Isaiah 32-33

Common English Bible

Righteous rule

32 See here: A king rules to promote righteousness;
    rulers govern to promote justice,
²    each like a shelter from the wind
    and a refuge from a storm,
    like streams of water in a wasteland,
    like the shade of a massive cliff in a worn-out land.
³Then the eyes of those who can see will no longer be blind,
    the ears of those who can hear will listen,
⁴    the minds of the rash will know and comprehend,
    and the tongues of those who stammer will speak fluently and plainly.
⁵Then a fool will no longer be called honorable,
    nor a villain considered respectable.
⁶Fools speak folly;
    their minds devise wickedness,
    acting irreverently,
    speaking falsely of the Lord,
    leaving the hungry empty,
    and depriving the thirsty of drink.
⁷As for the villain, his villainies are evil.
    He plans schemes to destroy the poor with lying words,
    even when the needy speak justly.
⁸But an honorable person plans honorable things
    and stands up for what is honorable.

Warnings to the carefree

⁹Women of leisure, stand up! Hear my voice!
    Carefree daughters, listen to my word!
¹⁰In a little over a year,
    the carefree will shudder,
    because the grape harvest will fail;
    the vintage won’t arrive.
¹¹Tremble, all of you who are at ease;
    shudder, all of you who are secure!
Strip yourselves, bare your skin,
    and tie mourning clothes around your waist,
¹²    beating your breasts for the pleasant fields,
    for the fruitful vine,
¹³    for my people’s soil
    growing barbs and thorns,
    for all the joyous houses
    in the jubilant town.
¹⁴The palace will be deserted,
    the crowded city abandoned.
Stronghold and watchtower
    will become empty fields forever,
    suited for the pleasure of wild donkeys,
    and a pasture for flocks—
¹⁵    until a spirit from on high
    is poured out on us,
    and the desert turns into farmland, and the farmland is considered a forest.
¹⁶Then justice will reside in wild lands,
    and righteousness will abide in farmlands.
¹⁷The fruit of righteousness will be peace,
    and the outcome of righteousness,
    calm and security forever.
¹⁸Then my people will live in a peaceful dwelling,
    in secure homes, in carefree resting places.
¹⁹Even if the forest falls^[a]
        and the humbled city is laid low,
²⁰    those who sow beside any stream will be happy,
    sending out ox and donkey to graze.

Judgment and hope for the righteous

33 Doom to the destroyer left undestroyed,
you traitor whom none have betrayed:
when you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed;
and when you have stopped betraying, they will betray you.

²Lord, show us favor;
    we hope in you.
Be our strength every morning,
    our salvation in times of distress.
³At the noise, peoples fled;
    on account of your roar, nations scattered.
⁴They gathered spoil like insects;
    they rushed upon it like a swarm of locusts.^[b]
⁵The Lord is exalted; he lives on high,
    filling Zion with justice and righteousness.
⁶He will provide security during a lifetime:^[c]
    a source of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge—
    fear of the Lord will be Zion’s treasure.^[d]

⁷But then those in Ariel^[e] cried out in the streets;
    messengers of peace wept bitterly.
⁸The highways were deserted;
    travelers left the road.
The covenant was broken;
    solemn pledges^[f] were rejected;
    no one cared for humanity.
⁹The land mourned; it wasted away;
    Lebanon was ashamed; it withered.
Sharon became like the desert,
    and Bashan and Carmel were dropping their leaves.

¹⁰Now I will arise, says the Lord.
    Now I will exalt myself; now I will stand tall.
¹¹You conceive straw, give birth to stubble;
    your breath is a fire that devours you.
¹²Peoples will be burned to lime,
    thorns cut up and set ablaze.
¹³You who are far away, hear what I have done;
    and you who are near, know my strength!

¹⁴Sinners became terrified in Zion;
    trembling seized the godless:
        “Who among us can live with the devouring fire?
        Who among us can live with the everlasting blaze?”
¹⁵The one who walks righteously and speaks truthfully,
    who rejects profit from extortion,
    who waves away a bribe instead of grabbing it,
    who won’t listen to bloody plots,
    and who won’t contemplate doing something evil.
¹⁶He will live on the heights;
    fortresses in the cliffs will be his refuge.
His food will be provided,
    his water guaranteed.
¹⁷When you gaze upon a king in his glamour
    and look at the surrounding land,
¹⁸    in dismay you will think:
    Where is the one who counts?
    Where is the one who weighs?
    Where is the one who counts towers?
¹⁹You will no longer see the defiant people,
    the people of speech too obscure to understand,
    who stammer in an incomprehensible language.
²⁰Gaze upon Zion, our festival town.
    Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
    a carefree dwelling,
    a tent that is not packed up,
    whose stakes are never pulled up,
    whose ropes won’t snap.
²¹The Lord’s majesty will be there for us:
    as a place of rivers, broad streams
    where no boat will go,
    no majestic ship will cross.
²²The Lord is our judge;
    the Lord is our leader;
    the Lord is our king—
    he will deliver us.
²³Your ropes are loosened;
    they can’t hold the mast firmly;
    they can’t spread the sail.
Then abundant spoil will be divided;
    even the lame will seize spoil.
²⁴And no inhabitant will say, “I’m sick.”
    The people living there will be forgiven their sin.